Amazing rescue overnight in the southern Atlantic on day 22 of the Vendee Globe. Kevin Escoffier’s Imoca PRB split in half and sank in seconds in 15 foot seas. He was able to jump in his survival suit, grab an Epirb and raft before being swept out in the water. He was rescued 12 hours later by offshore racing legend Jean Le Cam who himself had been rescued 12 years ago off Cape Horn by the previous PRB, then skippered by another skipper. Still 30 boats in the race out of 33 as the leader just crossed into the Indian Ocean. https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en
I was following this until my power went out in a storm last night. Glad Le Cam found him. He'd lost sight of him last I'd heard. I am pretty amazed at these boats coming apart like this. Alex Thompson has abandoned after losing a rudder. This after fixing significant structural damage that he was able to repair. I know these boats are built at the edge in order to maintain speed. But seems to me they should be a little stouter. You can't win if you can't finish.
Yep and between the risks of loosing a foil to debris plus the stresses from the higher speeds, I wonder how many more are going to have issue. Last time around Thomson lost one foil, this time nr 2 Ruyant lost part of one... Escoffier explained that they had added 450 lbs of carbon fiber laminate to reinforce the bow, but that was not enough. his accident seems to be similar to what happened to Black Magic off San Diego in the 90s. Boat just folded in half
The VG and the Sydney Hobart are my favorites to follow. Amazing speeds in this race. 4 boats are within 5 miles of each other after 7,000 miles. Crazy
Everest Horizontal...... This is a very good read if books are your thing, https://www.amazon.com/Godforsaken-...23&s=books&sprefix=godforsaken,aps,179&sr=1-2
I don’t think the often used Everest comparison is valid as climbers rarely climb solo and have assistance for a good chunk of the climb. Here the skippers are on their own and up to two or theee weeks from receiving any assistance once they get in the extreme South Pacific far from shipping lanes. I don’t think anything compare to it.
Two more collisions with UFOs... third place Sébastien Simon sustained damage to a foil and its structure yesterday and is heading to Cape Town... then last night Sam Davies hit something hard and went from 20kts to 0 in a spilt second. She s ok besides some bruises but the boat has suffered structural damage and she is also limping towards Cape Town. that’s 5 hits in a week plus one of the two Ultime trimarans racing for the Jules Vernes Trophy...